Up in the mountains

Yesterday, a friend and I climbed up a mountain, an amazing one too. It’s been a while since I was out and about in the mountains and I was really missing it. So I went and without a doubt I was taken away by it’s beauty and tranquility. Although we were chatting away most of the time, I could not ignore the racy train of thoughts that went past my mind each step, each view.

First, we didn’t think that we were able to make it to the emerald lake which was what we really wanted to see because of our untimely arrival at the track car park. The south crater is the first summit on the alpine track and that was as far as we thought we’d make it for a safe return before sunset. We began climbing with a defeated attitude. I was like, ok according to what it says on the trail note etc. we can’t make it to the emerald lakes on time, so lets just know that we aren’t going to the top and start coming back down at 1:30. We walked for a while, the slope began to steepen. To our surprise, someone coming down from the top told us that there was only 15 minutes until the summit. At that time, we were much earlier than expected and if there was only 15 minutes till summit, we were well before our estimated time of arrival. ’15 minutes’ however, turned out to be a lie. But what it did to our attitude, was not bad at all. It gave us hope and excitement to go on. We decided after hearing that, we’d very much like to get to the top. Of course, that newly formed will power wasn’t enough. We had to actually do something about it. we had to walk faster and stop less for photos.

So long story short, after asking a few more people ‘how long’, we got to the first summit, the second (tongariro summit) and close enough to see and appreciate the emerald lake (and even the blue lake). Excuse my poor sense of writing but I’m not trying to talk about the fact that we got to where we wanted. I wanted to shed light on the change in our attitude, and emotions as we were encouraged by people on the way down, who told us very underestimated times until the summit and the lakes. What that did was it made it seem like we could do it. we could get there. We may as well have not reached the top because it could have been physically impossible to do so in that time frame. But what made me think was how important it is to believe that maybe, you can make it. maybe this is possible. For some time I knew that without that kind of hope, you can’t go on for long, and you only decrease the chance of your success. I was beginning to forget it, but climbing mount Tongariro was a good reminder.

People were coming down and going up, all at different speeds. Some got to the top early, some later. Some were faster, some were behind. But we all saw the same beauty along the way. I am sure behind all the different kinds of thoughts and conversations we had, we all felt something in common looking down from the summit at 1900m, down at the lakes, down at the saddles, how the cloud covered the mountains. We certainly don’t care who got to the top first, or who’s the last. It’s all the same journey. Then a question began to dawn on me. Does it really matter whether or not we get to the top? I don’t know. I haven’t answered that yet.

I don’t want to look back and feel sorry for myself that I didn’t even try, that I didn’t even have hope. As for me, the key is to simply have that hope. As long as I do, I know I won’t be shamed. That hope, won’t lead to nothing, but rather to life. It’s good to know that the fulfilment of the promise doesn’t depend on me, but on the Almighty One. It’s good to know His yoke is easy.